1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices for organizing truck beds, and in particular, to a device that provides an elevated storage surface above the floor of a truck bed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional pickup truck beds or boxes provide a spacious storage area for transporting a wide variety of items such as power tools, rakes, shovels, saw horses, fishing equipment, coolers, and other gear and equipment. Pickup truck beds are especially convenient for use by campers, lawn mowing crews, craft dealers, bikers, farmers, ranchers and hunters. Many of these outdoor activities are growing in popularity, whereas those activities more associated with work-use of pickup truck beds are remaining stable. These outdoor activities often require bicycles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, and related equipment and gear for making trips more comfortable. However, attempting to pack all of these necessities in the bed of a pickup truck quickly becomes a challenge. In particular, large bulky items such as all-terrain vehicles and lawnmowers tend to consume most or all of the available space in a truck bed, if they even fit at all between the wheel well covers, leaving little or no additional storage space for other objects. Often, items are left behind due to lack of available storage space, and while on the trip, these items are invariably missed at some point in time when needed.
Some previous attempts have been made to organize truck beds and thereby increase the number of items that can be stored therein. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,794 issued Dec. 5, 1972 to Flamm, U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,299 issued Apr. 22, 1997 to Berard, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,007 issued to Porter et al each disclose means for providing a storage space located above the wheel well covers of a truck, thereby increasing the effective width of the storage space. However, none of these previous attempts preserve the bulk of the storage space available underneath the elevated storage area. Furthermore, using other existing devices for hauling bicycles and the like on the rear of vehicles or alternatively hauling a utility trailer behind a vehicle both preclude the possibility of simultaneously pulling a camper behind the vehicle as well.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a product to organize a truck bed that helps maximize the available storage space. Specifically, there is a need for a product that not only provides an elevated storage area above the wheel well covers of a truck bed, but also helps maximize the available storage space underneath the elevated storage area.